double doors, made of some kind of metal, gleamed in the light of equally massive sconces. It was an impressive entryway, one that made a statement. It also looked like a fortress.
Motioning for Dave and Ali to stay inside, Easy stepped out of the vehicle. Once again he had a phone clapped to one ear and an earpiece in the other. 'Okay,' Ali heard him say. 'We're in place now. If everyone's ready, it's a go. On your say-so. Right.'
What followed seemed to Ali like a moment of anticipatory silence. Then, as if on cue, all the officers standing outside the Suburbanall the ones she could see, Easy includedseemed to glance in the same direction at the same time, looking off over their shoulders, back toward downtown. And then, through the open car door, Ali heard the sound that had obviously captured their attentionthe distinctive
Ali's first assumption was that the aircraft was some kind of support vehicle brought in to serve as backup for the officers on the scene, but as it flew directly overhead, it laid down what sounded like a spray of automatic gunfire. At the sound of it, the officers on the ground all dove for cover.
'Holy shit!' Dave exclaimed. 'We're taking fire.'
The helicopter dropped to the ground on the far side of the gate, easing down beside the lighted fountain. Behind it, one of the massive double doors flew open and two women emergedAmber and a white-haired woman, dressed all in pink and leaning on a cane. Amber hurried her forward. The two of them walked under the churning helicopter blades without ducking their heads, as though they were totally accustomed to them. As they approached the cockpit, Amber pulled herself inside and then reached back to help the older woman.
By then Easy's assault team was moving forward. Weapons at the ready, they crouched behind a growling Hummer that paused for only a moment before ripping the gate off its hinges and clearing the way for the team to spill inside the compound. As they surged forward, though, the helicopter had collected its passengers and was already lifting off. As it rose from the ground, another spray of bullets came through the craft's open door.
Instinctively, Ali and Dave ducked as bullets smashed into the front of the Suburban and whined past them in the empty air. The windshield splintered. And then there was another soundan ugly, guttural groan of painthe sound of someone hit and badly hurt. Outside the open front door, Easy Washington seemed to spin in place. Then, slowly, he fell backward.
Over the roar of the helicopter engine, Ali heard a group of shouted commands followed by yet another blast of gunfire, this one from the officers on the ground. At first it seemed as though it made no difference. For a time the helicopter continued to rise unimpeded. Then it seemed to hesitate slightly. The blades stopped spinning abruptly as the craft tilted drunkenly over to one side. Then, slowly to Ali's fear-fueled mind, it began to fall to earth.
Ali saw two somethings, one pink and one not, spill out onto the ground and land, like limp rag dolls, on the hard brick of the courtyard. And then the helicopter crashed down there as wellsmashing almost silently and eerily in the exact same spot. Immediately it burst into flames.
As the flames rose in the air, Dave vaulted out of the Suburban with Ali right behind him. By the time Ali reached the ground, Dave was on his knees lifting his friend's dreadfully limp body. Already drenched in Easy's bright red blood, Dave was cradling the man and doing his best to apply pressure to a wound at the base of Easy's chin.
'Find a phone!' Dave yelled at Ali. 'Call nine-one-one. Hurry!'
Without knowing how she found it, Ali's fingers closed around the telephone Easy Washington had dropped when he fell.
'Nine-one-one,' the operator said. 'What are you reporting?'
'A man's been shot,' Ali shouted into the phone. 'A man's been shot and there's been a helicopter crash.'
'What is your location?' the woman wanted to know. 'You're calling on a cell phone. I need the exact address.'
'Somewhere on Via Hermosa in Palm Springs,' Ali returned. 'Right next to the burning helicopter.'
Three people died last night and three DEA officers were wounded, one critically, when gunfire erupted and a fleeing helicopter crashed in the normally quiet Old Las Palmas neighborhood of Palm Springs during a DEA-led task-force operation targeting a highly sophisticated network of alleged drug traffickers.
After a month long investigation and after staging numerous arrests all over Southern California, officers turned their attention to the home of a longtime Palm Springs resident thought to be the ringleader of the group. Both the unidentified woman and her granddaughter along with their pilot perished when the helicopter in which they were attempting to flee crashed during take-off. One unidentified DEA officer is hospitalized at Eisenhower Memorial Hospital with what are thought to be life-threatening injuries.
The gun battle came at the end of a long day of stunning high-profile arrests that netted several members of L.A.'s media elite along with some people thought to be highly placed members in law enforcement circles. Much of the operation centered around a trendy Beverly Hills topless club known as the Pink Swan.
One suspect was arrested and two carjacking victims were rescued at the Morango rest area on I-10 when officers, alerted by one of the hostages over a cell phone, managed to throw down nail strips, which disabled the fleeing vehicle. One of the two victims, both of them Arizona residents visiting in California, was slightly injured during the operation. The other was released unharmed.
It was almost noon that same day when Ali looked up from reading the online news report and considered those words, the understated and dispassionate journalese that toned down the very real drama of the story.
'One was slightly injured.' That would have been Chris and his sprained ankle. The one who was released 'unharmed' was Ali herself. And the 'critically injured' officer was Dave's friend Easy Washington, who had been struck in the neck by a stray bullet. The theory was that one of the bullets fired from the helicopter had ricocheted off the Suburban's engine block. It had glanced off Easy's Kevlar vest and had slammed into his inferior thyroid artery.
The other thing the words didn't do justice to was the frantic lifesaving effort that had ensued. Dave had been in the thick of the action and only his knowledgeable application of pressure to the wound had saved his gravely injured friend's life. Ali's last glimpse of a blood-spattered Dave had been as the EMTs helped him into the waiting ambulance along with Easy.
A little past noon Edie Larson emerged from the pool house. Carrying a cup of coffee, she set it on the patio table next to Ali's computer and then she sat down next to her daughter.
'How are things?' Edie asked. 'Any word about Dave's friend?'
'No,' Ali said. 'At least they're not updating his condition anywhere here.'
'And you haven't heard from Dave?'
'Not so far.'
'You will,' Edie said confidently.
Ali studied her mother. Edie's face looked far more worn than usual. 'You never let on that you knew about the whole thing when I was talking to you on the phone,' Ali observed.
'No, I didn't,' Edie agreed. 'I was afraid I might give something away. I knew Dave and the others were working hard with Dad and Chris to get the two of you out of there, but I wanted you to hear the sound of my voice. I wanted you to know that you weren't all alone out there.'
Ali had pictured her mother standing outside the gate of Robert Lane during what she had thought might be their last-ever phone call. Now she knew that, in actual fact, Edie had placed the call from the safety of an LAPD squad car.
Ali reached out and covered her mother's hand. 'Thank you,' she said.
'You're welcome,' Edie returned. 'But knowing you were out there with all those bullets flying amp;' Edie shook her head. 'Oh, my. I was terrified.'
'So was I,' Ali admitted.
Edie stood up. Her freshly poured cup of coffee was already gone. She could drink coffee hotter than anyone Ali knew.
'Is there any food in the house?' Edie asked, nodding toward the big house where none of them had stayed. 'The pool house fridge has coffee and a bottle of ketchup but that's about it.'
'Probably,' Ali said, 'but I don't know for sure.'
'I'll go check,' Edie said. 'Chris was still asleep on the couch when I came through the living room, but I know
